Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Gafney:Savaging Women (and Men)

The
Rev-elution welcomes Wil Gafney, Ph.D., as a quest blogger.I met Gafney while she was completing her
dissertation at Duke University.She
offers a unique perspective to the role of faith in public space. Gafney is
Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at The Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and is an Episcopal Priest
canonically resident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. She is also a member of
the Dorshei Derekh Reconstructionist Minyan of the Germantown Jewish Center in
Philadelphia, PA. She has co-taught courses with and for the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical Seminary in Wyncote, PA. Follow her work at: Wilgafney.com

The festering scab of our rape epidemic has been
ripped off (again), revealing the festering flesh underneath. Women and girls
snatched off the street and held in chains for years as sex slaves; predators
talking their way into the homes of struggling single mothers for access to
their children; male soldiers and defense contractors raping their female and
male fellow soldiers habitually and for sport with impunity; women, men, boys
and girls trafficked around the world because they are cheaper and more
profitable than drugs with lower overhead and fewer turf wars – and the demand
is inexhaustible.

We are horrified by and seemingly inured to violence:
sexual violence; domestic violence; gun violence. The sleeping behemoth of
righteous indignation is shaking off its slumber as theparents of murdered children find allies in
their fellow citizens and in some of their representatives to address one
factor in the sea of madness, nearly unfettered access to guns including
military grade weapons and high capacity magazines that can turn any shooting
into a slaughter.

The consumption of women’s and girl’s bodies for the
sex-power-rage gratification of men is prehistoric and perennial. It is
biblical. But it is not godly. No longer “just” a tool ofwarring armies – although still very much so
– the daily reduction of women of women and girls totubes of flesh to which and for which some men
will do anything is a horror that must be decried and ended.

We cannot legislate our way out of rape culture any
more than we can out of gun culture, although legislation has an irreplaceable
part to play in transforming our society that must not be abandoned or
surrendered.

We are broken at the basic human level, but not not
past the hope of repair. That is the irrepressible hope that dogs me, hounds
me, stalks me. We have it within our capacity to change, ourselves and our
world. We begin with what we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. We
continue by rejecting and correcting messages objectify and commodify people,
women, girls, boys and men. We shine the light of day and the light of God on
sexual violence in our homes, churches, temples, mosques, schools, military,
and streets. We teach men and boys not to rape, that they have no right to the
flesh of women and girls or boys and men. We stop blaming the victims of sexual
violence for the crimes against others against them. We stop accepting rape and
torture as the price of doing business or consequence of living in certain
neighborhoods, countries or anywhere else in this world.

It is not enough for good men not to rape. It is not
enough for people of faith to condemn atrocities after the fact. We must
nurture human dignity in each child, each adult; teach and model manhood that
is not based on conquest or dominion. The savages among us are savaging the
illusion of civilization. No amount of digital technology can prevent the
deployment of a weaponized penis yet technological advances and innovations
further rape and trafficking. It is far past time to target men and boysand our rape-normative culture with messages
of transformation. You are not savages. We will not be savaged.

The time has come for rape-culture to be buried in a
grave from which it will never rise again.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina